Re: Christmas Lunch

Sorry noticed after you'd pointed it out you've been a member since 2006 .. Sorry I just noticed the 11th if December part ! Never mind I re-welcomed you

One of my favorite dishes at Jamie's Italian is 'honeycomb canalonni ' .. NOT made of honeycomb , it's a discription of how the dish is put together . This canalonni is made from fresh pasta sheets that are rolled around a filling. (Cant fully remember but i think one is Pumpkin , another aubergine and the other spinach and ricotta .. It's been a while since I ate it and have made it myself in the meantime )3 different fillings are used , so these could be changed to reflect the season and the occasion . It becomes 'honeycomb ' as instead of just laying the tubes / rolls of canalonni in a dish they are cut into shorter lengths as stood on their ends almost touching each other , this give the sort of apearence of honeycomb . They are cooked with a tomato sauce over them .

I have not tried making this from preen bought sheets of pasta , but if you want to try that route then I think it would be best to cook them a bit first so they become more flexible and are easy to roll . The canalonni is baked in the oven before serving.

Another dish I really enjoy is aubergine rolls , similar in construction to the canalonni . Make a tomato pasta sauce .Slice fairly thin slices of aubergine , lengthways . Brush with olive oil then griddle the slices to cook then through .jSet aside to cool a littleI like a mix of spinach and ricotta as the filling.i use frozen leaf spinach for convinience , I thaw the spinach and squeeze to remove excess fluid. In a separate dish mix together the spinach with some ricotta , season with salt pepper and a little grated nutmegTake a piece of the grilled aubergine , lay it down on a board , put a spoonful of the filling at one end and roll the aubergine around the filling . Place he roll in an ovenproof dish and keep repeating the process till all filling and aubergine slices have been used . Top with the tomato sauce and some chopped / grated cheese and bake in the oven. ( does your friend eat cheese ? Continental cheese is often made using animal rennet whilst British cheese is usually made with a vehetarian rennet .

Re: Christmas Lunch

Hi,

The Aubergine rolls sounds great ! I have a few ideas coming off this one so will think about it.

The only thing with fresh pasta is that one of the kids has an egg allergy and I cannot use fresh pasta. My only option would be to par cook dried pasta (made form 100% durum wheat) then fill the and cut them. The question would be would I have time to do this ?!!

I could do the Aubergine the night before, lay it into an oven tray and then cook it on the day !!

Re: Christmas Lunch

Re: Christmas Lunch

najys wrote:

Hi,

The Aubergine rolls sounds great ! I have a few ideas coming off this one so will think about it.

The only thing with fresh pasta is that one of the kids has an egg allergy and I cannot use fresh pasta. My only option would be to par cook dried pasta (made form 100% durum wheat) then fill the and cut them. The question would be would I have time to do this ?!!

I could do the Aubergine the night before, lay it into an oven tray and then cook it on the day !!

Thanks Mummza

p.s did you see my other post about the stuffing and allergies ?

I think you could assemble the dish the night before and refrigerate it . But bear in mind that it will take longer to cook from cold .

With the egg allergy , not all pasta has egg in the dough . Some pasta is made simply with flours and water .Earlier this year , I was told by a Italian that some regions of Italy regularly use eggs whilst other regions regularly make the pasta dough using water . The eggs enrich the pasta dough . I know that a lot of the dried pasta is made without using eggs so maybe some of those commercially made dried pasta sheets would be egg free , if they were cooked before they were filled and rolled , I think that would work fine.

Re: Christmas Lunch

I was thinking of doing giant meat-free stuffing balls with cheese in the middle. But now I don't have a vegetarian guest for lunch, he's coming in the afternoon. So the giant stuffing balls will have to wait for another year.

Re: Christmas Lunch

hippytea wrote:

I was thinking of doing giant meat-free stuffing balls with cheese in the middle. But now I don't have a vegetarian guest for lunch, he's coming in the afternoon. So the giant stuffing balls will have to wait for another year.

Day before yesterday I made some fried aubergine balls , can't remember what they were called when I first ate them ! Bake the aubergine in the oven with a little olive oil over it to prevent it from becoming too dry .when cooked slow to cool a bit so that the skin can be removed easily . Into a food processor put a bit of onion , garlic , chilli , s+p seasoning , some parmasan or other cheese ,fresh bread( ripped up ) and also the aubergine . 'Blitz' for a few seconds to allow the ingredients to combine . It will look a bit like slightly wet breadcrumbs . Remove blade from foodprocessor then taking small amounts of the mixture form this into balls rolling them in your hands but not pressing too hard so that the outside is well stuck together and slightly smooth . Deep fry till golden . Drain on kitchen paper . Serve with a sauce of your choice , sweet chilli , BBQ , fresh tomato , it does not matter . These are lovely as they have a crisp outside layer and are soft inside . Because the outer edge was rolled almost smooth there is very little oil absorbed in the cooking.

You could use this principal for making stuffing balls with out an egg binding and you could put a little cube of cheese in the centre if you want. Font make them too large as you need the centre to heat through fully .

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